Bipolar stimulator probes attachable to an electrical stimulator device or an electromyographic (EMG) device are commercially available for surface stimulation of peripheral nerves of the human body. Such apparatus provide both a stimulation electrode and a reference electrode on a single device.
These types of devices can be used in surface stimulation for eliciting muscle twitches of the type sought in a muscle pain and discomfort relieving method developed by the present inventor, referred to as Surface Applied Electrical Twitch Obtaining Intramuscular Stimulation. This methodology is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 7,725,193 to present inventor Dr. Jennifer Chu. Treatments utilizing the methodology are clinically offered by Dr. Chu, and assignee JusJas, LLC, under the service mark eToims®. For convenience, this service mark will be used herein to refer to this methodology as offered by the inventor and/or JusJas, LLC or its affiliates. This technique involves the provision of brief electrical stimulation at multiple motor end-plate zones in many muscles.
The performance of eToims® using a bipolar probe with widely spaced electrodes developed by the present inventor is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,877,152, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. A subsequent generation of the tool, and composite conductive pads/plugs for the same, are shown and described in the present inventor Dr. Jennifer Chu's U.S. application Ser. No. 12/625,667, published under No. 2010/0256722, also hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
There is a need for a holding/resting system for the bipolar probe with widely spaced electrodes, where the probe can be placed during or after a session of use. This would facilitate keeping the electrodes sanitary for the Surface Applied Electrical Twitch Obtaining Intramuscular Stimulation procedure. This is especially important since the electrodes (e.g., composite pads/plugs as disclosed in aforementioned U.S. application publication No. 2010/0256722) are, in use, typically wetted and there is no place to lay down the probe during a treatment session without contaminating the table or cart surface on which the stimulator device rests.
Since the electrodes are wet, the probe cannot be placed on top of the electrical stimulator device (e.g., eToims® ET127 stimulator unit available from eToims® Medical Technology, LLC of Philadelphia Pa.); doing so could cause water ingress into the device and create a shock hazard, as well as potentially damage the device.
In addition, even if the electrodes are dry, when the front of the device is tilted up using two front legs provided on the device (this allows the clinician to have a better view of the front panel), there is tendency for the probe to slide off the top surface. On the other hand, a separate stand-alone holder can easily be displaced or tumble over, fall off a utility cart upon which it is placed with the stimulator device, and/or can be simply lost or misplaced.